“By placing the bird with a rehabilitator, we will have prevented it from potentially harming someone and vice versa.”

Mark Kandel, Regional Wildlife Manager

NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

State wildlife officials today safely captured a female
peregrine falcon that had been nesting in MacKay Tower on the
University at Buffalo’s South Campus.

The capture came after the state Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC), in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (FWS), determined it was in the best interest of the
falcon, as well as UB and the surrounding community, to place the
bird in a federally-permitted facility for permanent care.

Since 2010, the falcon has exhibited aggressive behavior by
swooping down on people working on rooftops, as well as pedestrians
on and near South Campus. The incidents occurred during late spring
and early summer when the bird had newly hatched chicks.

Two such incidents - one in which a UB employee suffered
lacerations to the head - were reported this month, marking the
first time the falcon exhibited the behavior before May. The
potential for more incidents led DEC officials to decide to
relocate the falcon.

“This type of behavior among peregrine falcons is
unprecedented,” said Mark Kandel, DEC regional wildlife
manager, who led the capture effort. “By placing the bird
with a rehabilitator, we will have prevented it from potentially
harming someone and vice versa.”

The male falcon will likely find another mate and remain in
MacKay Tower or it could be displaced by another pair of peregrine
falcons, Kandel said.

Threatened by pesticides, peregrine falcons were considered an
endangered species by the federal government until 1999 when
recovery efforts prompted their removal from the list.

They are still listed as endangered by New York, which works to
boost the state’s population of the bird. The effort is
working, especially in Western New York which has seven nesting
pairs, up from one 20 years ago, Kandel said.

UB supports the state’s effort. For example, university
officials installed a nesting box that the falcons used to rear
some of the 15 birds that they produced. UB also featured the nest
on a web cam to promote understanding of the birds, a practice it
plans to continue after the male finds a new mate or a new pair
moves in.